About my work
 
 
Recent drawings I draw in order to understand myself and my natural surroundings. Making drawings has always been a very important proces for me, also in the development of my other work. Recently I started making drawings of astronauts and landscapes with charcoal and inkt on paper. Sometimes I turn my drawings into short animations. In an animation time becomes important, and slow transformations take place. As if one moment is spread out in an eternity. Consiousness and unconciousness are two different worlds. Most people live in those two worlds, with one leg in one or the other. But we all life on the border. It’s that border that fascinates me. I created an astronaut figure which postes a intrinsic inner power, which is beyond his own control, without reducing him to involuntary servitude. He is an anounimous, wandering figure. There is no suggestion of movement or spontaneous expression, just an intensly concentrated posture which seems to have adopted for eternity. The astronaut lives in a not-world, or a world that’s silent and beyond. Parts of an old world, like animals, swarms and frogjelly are joining him on his endless journey. Most animals are immerted in complete self-absorption, profound sleep, unconciousness, are wounded or death. I use these organic forms to connect the consiousness with the unconciousness. In my work I search for the composite of the world we now live in. It’s a reaction to a world with pressure and less space to live in. A longing for an overview. I also want to look at the other side, the world of the unborn. I am interested in the changing nature of the world. Changes appear everywhere which causes aspects like pressure, influence on the economy, and war. Landscapes are erased and a new, completely synthetic environment is being created: the disappearing of nature as such. The landscapes I draw are places that transform by themselfs. They are selfabsorbed landscapes. They are timeless and refer to uncontrolled, selfexisting nature. The landscapes are drawn from the same source as the astronaut. They are emotional landscapes, that you will never see. Fluid is important in my drawings. It’s like an unclear view. Something you can’t see very sharp because your glasses are too dirty – I want nothing to prevent the viewer from delving into a world of fantasy and fable... but by the time the view is clear, it’s gone. My journeys to Norway and Switserland and my experience with estaunishing pure nature, inspire me to make these works. I take the pictures I made of the shape of mountains and all kind of plants to my studio and study them for my drawings. Personal Resume The development in my work as an artist has gone through different stages. I was always interested in a mix of video, animation and drawing, because I could manipulate the reality and turn it into an atmosphere to see what is beneath the surface of life. While I was studying at the art academy Arnhem in the Netherlands, I observed psychological codes in society and the mind, and what role we play in life. When I studied the exchangebility of identity, I did performances to experience this myself. Sometimes I involved my parents and my friends in my work to make my research more personal. All the results of my research came together in my graduation work of the Art academy 2002. I graduated with a videoinstallation with six different scenes where people walked over bridges and through tunnels. In front of them a silhouette appears. When they are near by the silhouette, it seems to be the outline of there own body. At the moment they step into the silhouette they turn into a bright colour and the next moment they dissapear into the universe. After my graduation I was more focussed on working on the subject identity in relation with public space and the community. I build large installations where people could go in and experience an atmosphere themselfs. For exampel I made an round form with an iron frame and white umbrella's (six meters wide and 4 meters high). Inside there was beautiful dissolved light and muffled sound. It had windows which gave the oppertunity to look outside with a whole different view. I also build a 100 meter long wooden table (inspired by the japanese bridges I saw on Hokusai images), where the community could sit and eat lunch at. This was an assignment for the North of Amsterdam which has a municipal problem area, because of all the different cultures living in the same area. It was a community art idea based on bringing all the people living there, at the same table and share lunch together. The table is now always part of festivals organised in the park. In 2005/2006 I did the masterclass at the postgraduation art academy in Breda, the Netherlands. During this year the astronaut came into my work. It started with my childhood fantasy to travel into space. I did an interview with my parents and made a short documentary/fiction film about the dream of being an astronaut. During that time I realised the astronaut means more to me than just a human in a suit. It's a state of being. After my graduation at the Post graduation academy I focussed on the development of this new found metaphor and my own handwriting and I began to make drawings again. Home